News: GOTM 36 Pre-game Discussion

[AlanH]

GOTM 36: Arabia

[img=right]http://gotm.civfanatics.net/civ4games/images/gotm36civ.jpg[/img]

My first attempt at a Civ4 map doesn't seem to have defeated you in October. I'll have to try harder

This time it's Emperor on a Standard, Terra, Rocky map, at Epic speed. As we don't seem to have played Arabia for a while, you'll be Saladin this time.

Game settings:

Civilization: Arabia (Leader: Saladin; Traits: Philosophical, Spiritual)
Rivals: 6 AIs
Difficulty: Emperor
Map: Terra
Mapsize: Standard
Climate: Rocky
Sea Level: Medium
Starting Era: Ancient
Speed: Epic
Options: Standard
Victory Conditions: all enabled

Saladin:

Saladin is Philosophical and Spiritual; starting with Mysticism and the Wheel. Your Philosophical trait increases Great People birth rate 100 percent, and doubles the production speed of University. Your Spiritual trait means you suffer no Anarchy, and doubles production speed of the Temple.

Unique unit: Camel Archer (replaces Knight)

You can build a Camel Archer without horses or iron, but you do need Archery. It has a 25% chance of retreating in combat rather than dying.

Starting screenshot

This is the start of the game (click for a bigger image):



Tribal Huts:

There were three huts near the start. I've popped them for you to avoid all that random nonsense, so you start with 75 gold plus a scout on the same tile as the Settler.

Adventurer Class bonuses:

1. Worker. You have a worker, sharing a tile with the Warrior)
2. Second Warrior On the same tile as the Settler and scout.

Challenger Class Equalisers:

1. No techs. All forgotten.
2. No gold. You dropped it in the jungle.

To Enter the Competition:

This competition will open on 1 November 2008. From that date, you'll be able to get your chosen starting save here.
Submit the save after your victory (or defeat) here, by 1 December 2008.

Software Versions

Windows: This game MUST be played in Civilization 4 (NOT Warlords or BTS), patched to version 1.74, and with the HOF mod version 1.74.003 installed. You can download the HOF mod here. Players using Windows Vista are encouraged to read the notes on Vista fixes here.

Macintosh: This game MUST be played in Civilization 4 (NOT Warlords), patched to version 1.74, and with the Mac HOF mod version 1.74.002 installed. You can download the HOF mod here.

While playing...

Remember - for your entry to be accepted, it MUST be your first attempt to play this game, and you MUST NOT replay any turns. If you make a mistake while playing, you have to live with it, learn from it, and carry on the game without replaying.

We will open 'spoiler' threads during the month for players to discuss what happens in their games. Do not discuss any details of the game outside those threads while it is in progress. Please use the Saves Available thread or Private Messages for any technical queries, eg. if you have trouble opening the game. Do NOT post in this thread or in the Saves Available thread once you have successfully opened the starting save.

 

[greatbeyond]

Not to look a gift camel in the mouth, but why so generous? Is that an evil laugh I hear in the background.....

Warrior 1NE, Settler: in-place looks almost too good to move. I might consider moving 1 NW to take a look. But that costs 2 turns to settle if nothing else is seen and loses the fresh water bonus. 2nd city 1 NW Rice if going for a REX strategy.

 

[Conquistador 63]

Oddly enough, I don't think the starting position is that good - at least not in the long term. Too many ocean, coast and lake tiles, and we're not even financial. I did like the free scout and the gold, though. The scout will probably go NW/N before I decide where to settle.

Also, IMO Sal's traits begs for a Cultural game, but Terra mapscript doesn't. And this being Emperor level, I'll go for Diplo or Space to have a better chance of winning.

 

[Lexad]

Oddly enough, I don't think the starting position is that good - at least not in the short term - unirrigated jungle rice and banana will churn up only in midgame Still, much better than most starts you see nowdays - except the WOTM, ofc

 

[godotnut]

I agree that this isn't a great start, based on what we can see now. In particular, there isn't enough food near the capital, at least until Bananas are developed, to take full advantage of the Philo trait. Although gems are always nice, the ocean tiles are weak, and we probable will need to settle on the coast so that a lighthouse can turn the lake tiles to three food tiles. Terra maps can be challenging, but usually moreso for AI than us, so that does work to our advantage, in raw terms of winning, if not in an early finish.

My little return to GOTMs has been confined to cultural games so far, so I'll be going for something else here if I can find time to play it. Probably diplo, which used to be my second favorite victory condition before I took my long break from Civ. What is it about this game that's so addictive, even if you finish in frustration (my experience in the recent Deity BOTM)? Part of it must be the awesome people who play and post here in the GOTMs.

 

[greatbeyond]

What is it about this game that's so addictive, even if you finish in frustration (my experience in the recent Deity BOTM)? Part of it must be the awesome people who play and post here in the GOTMs.

I don't meet this description, can I still post here!

 

[toller pretzl]

When I have played terra, I always treated it as Pangaea - was that unwise ?

 

[TheMeInTeam]

When I have played terra, I always treated it as Pangaea - was that unwise ?

Ask the guy who got a 1,000,000 score .

Don't really feel like going through the effort to set up HoF for vanilla, so I'll just lurk on non-bts, but this looks interesting, especially since Sal had decent traits in vanilla..........

 

[DynamicSpirit]

When I have played terra, I always treated it as Pangaea - was that unwise ?

Depends how you're trying to win and what strategy you're using terra has in common with pangea that all the civs can be reached with axemen, so if you're going for pre-astronomy conquest the strategies are identical. OTOH pangea has the other continent (new world), which might make a pre-astronomy domination win impossible, and would certainly give you a lot of potential cities that may speed up a spacerace if you can colonize them. The civs tend to start a bit closer together in terra, which may impact your strategy too.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

There were three huts near the start. I've popped them for you to avoid all that random nonsense, so you start with 75 gold plus a scout on the same tile as the Settler.

I await the day when the pre-game announcement reads, There were three huts near the start. I've popped them for you, and there are now six angry barbarian warriors just out of sight to the west

 

[Lexad]

There was once, only they were three

 

[Cactus Pete]

Sure would like to see a practice game posted.

 

[srad]

I'm thinking about moving the settler inland in the hope to find some more "productive" land (more food and hammers) but this means loosing some turns and maybe there is nothing better .

So maybe I have to flip a coin.

 

[kcd_swede]

I'm thinking about moving the settler inland in the hope to find some more "productive" land (more food and hammers) but this means loosing some turns and maybe there is nothing better .

So maybe I have to flip a coin.

On a Rocky terrain map, finding food sites will be a challenge. The best sites will be occupied by AI capitols, probably. Finding hills should be easy, tho.

 

[oyzar]

I await the day when the pre-game announcement reads, There were three huts near the start. I've popped them for you, and there are now six angry barbarian warriors just out of sight to the west

Is this foreshadowing? I hope there isn't too much difficult terrain for the settler to run the other way, a stone plains hill somewhere along the way would also be nice...

Running into the jungle is probably not the best plan...(you can see jungle on the edge of the screenie).

 

[AlanH]

NOTE

If anyone is trying to recreate the start position in a test map, please note that the released saves, available tomorrow, do not show the right hand blue circle that appears in the original screenshots. Only the left hand circle is displayed.

 

[kcd_swede]

NOTE

If anyone is trying to recreate the start position in a test map, please note that the released saves, available tomorrow, do not show the right hand blue circle that appears in the original screenshots. Only the left hand circle is displayed.

I've always wondered what those circles signify anyhow. Does it indicate that somewhere in the BFC of a city founded on that site there will be X number of resources, thus allowing us to know the approx location of a resource type that isn't visible yet with our technology? Or is it the AI's best judgement of what would be the best city site based only on what is actually visible?

I always thought it kind of weird to head for a blue circle, only to find when I get there that the new blue circles are right at the spot I left.

Can anyone explain the significance and/or game mechanics that decide where a blue circle is or isn't?

 

[AlanH]

All I will tell you is that I did change something near the start but in the fog before I built the final files, and that affected the choice of circle positions. Clearly I can't say what that change was, though

 

[srad]

On a Rocky terrain map, finding food sites will be a challenge. The best sites will be occupied by AI capitols, probably. Finding hills should be easy, tho.

I think you are right. There is not a big chance to find an equal or better flat in the north. Pretty sure that I'll settle in place.
As you wrote in the BOTM11 spoiler it is risky too leave a good starting place.

 

[dr_s]

It seems to me that unless there is a bunch of desert (or more ocean) to the north, the 2N spot is superior to settling in place. In the current location you'll have 10 water tiles, 3 3F-2C, 5 2F-2C, and 2 2F-1C. 2N you'll have just 3 water tiles, all 2F-2C. Unless the tiles to the north are a total disaster, I don't see how that can be worse.

I don't put much stock in the 3F-2C tiles for this location. Are you really going to want to work them after you improve the bananas? They only seem useful to me during the (potentially short) window between building a lighthouse and researching calendar.

I'll probably move the scout NW-N onto the hill, then move 2N and settle, unless something bad shows up there.